Did a bit of internet shopping last week, you know, artist's materials, that sort of thing. Now, this is something I normally leave to Belinda, for some reason I always seem to get myself into a bit of a tangle. It's when it comes to the checkout, filling all your details in, passwords, etc.

So, I have chosen the product and clicked 'buy' and immediately it asks 'new or existing customer'. I click 'new'. It then tells me that apparently I am not a new customer and demands my password. Password?! I haven't got a password or if I have I can't remember it. Forgotten your password? Yes, if you say so and they have to email me a new one. Not a good start.

Well I've navigated the password, now fill in my address details, shouldn't be difficult, I hear you say. Well, if you live in rural Devon it's not quite that straightforward. Whoever designs these things must live in London or Los Angeles because it simply doesn't allow for rural addresses. Firstly, house number? I don't have a house number. Secondly, street? I don't live on a street and the road doesn't have a name. City? There isn't a city within an hour from us. And finally and bizarrely, description? Yes, description of my house. What the hell is that? I started to conjure up thoughts of estate agent lingo, you know; desirable detached residence set in two acres with far reaching views. It can't mean that surely. Whatever, I stuck the word 'house' in and believing I had successfully negotiated this I clicked continue only to find it came up with red marks all over it where I had filled it in incorrectly.

An hour later, I somehow manage to get through this obstacle and click continue. Instead of going to card details it sends me straight back to the product page. Good grief! I've had enough, so I phone them up and explain the problem. They decide to take my details over the phone. I find myself having to spell my address letter by letter. When it came to G, I said G for..., er, G for...er.

It's funny I seemed to have forgotten every word beginning with G that I ever knew. Now, I am quite familiar with the NATO phonetic alphabet, you know, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, etc, but my mind had gone completely blank. When I finally came up with a word I said triumphantly 'G for Gnome!' As the words came out of my mouth I realised how stupid this was, the only word I could think of had a silent G!

I had another six internet transactions to do that day and frankly, there is not enough space here to list what a debacle it was, and in my defence, I don't think it was all my fault. Poor design and layout together the fact that these companies had never tested their own checkout procedures.

Fortunately, the West Gallery website checkout is not only very simple to use (even I can do it!) it is quick, secure and backed by a 28 day no quibble returns policy. This means that you can buy artwork online knowing that if you are not completely satisfied, for whatever reason, you can return it. If you have any questions or queries you can email or phone us about anything. If you are more comfortable on the phone we can take card payment that way too, we're jolly friendly here and love to talk to our customers.

So, if you want to buy a set of four tractor prints at £35 each, for example, you can rest assured that your shopping experience won't be as painful as my exploits last week.